Rail bond



Feb. 12, 1929. 1,702,130

P. P. PIPES RAIL BOND Filed Aug. 20, 1927 Inventor 1 HJNY P R PES 2134743 01/ By Attorney Patented; Feb. 12, 1929.

IT S T A res Prints :9. rirns,

twain GF MANSFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE OHIO BRAS COMPANY, 03

MANSFIELD, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

nitric BOND.

Application filed August 20, 1927. Serial No. 214,267.

My invention relates to rail bonds and Pcll'r' ticularly that type of bond arranged to be united to rails by welding, such as by a heating flame applied in'the' term of the electric are or the oXy-acetylene flame.

The object of my invention is to provide a bond which can be welded to the rail such that the union between the flexible body and the welding metal will be fixed and no relative movement talre place therobetween, but that such movement of the flexible body rela tive to the terminal parts will be outside the terminal member, as hereinafter described.

ll ly invention resides in a new and novel construction, combination and relation of the various parts which make up the rail bond and its terminals and which are described and shown in the specification and the drawing accompanying this specification.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is aside view of a single terminal of my bond, the other end of the cable having a terminal the same as shown in Fig. 1. The cable portion may be as long as desired.

Fig. 2' is a top view ofthe bond terminal shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view in partial section on the line 3 -33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. eshows a U shaped bond applied to the adjacent ends of two rails. The view is shown in partial section for one terminal as along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, with the weldg metal applied and in full elevationfor the other terminal. i

In the'preferred embodiment of my invention, I employ a body portion consisting of one or more flexible cables 1. The cable is cut to the length required, and each end of the body 1 is provided with a terminal 2 formed up out of sheet metal, such as copper or iron.

Under most conditions I prefer to use iron or steel for the terminal for the reason that it is not expensive as compared with copper, and also forms a stronger union with the metal used in applying the bond to the rail and which is usually copper.

The terminal member 2 has a sleeve portion 3 which may encircle the entire body member 1 or a portion of it suiiicient to securely grip the body 1 and a sleeve portion 4 composed of two layers of. the metal crimped upon'itself. i prefer to have the end of the body member 1 project above the terminal member 2 slightly, although this is not necessary, and

I also have a small collar portion. 5 project- 7 ing upwardly from the shelf 4. interposed between the terminal 2 and the cable or cables 1 is a thin copper sleeve 5 projecting downwardly from the end of the sleeve portion The thin copper sleeve 6 tends to prevent contact between the copper cable 1 and the steel terminal 53, and, therefore, acts as a cushion preventing the steel terminal from biting into the wires or" thecable 1 when the terminal is compressed into position. lihe sleeve projecting downwardly tends to protect the strands where theyfenter the sleeve 3-, andthe tendency is to distribute vibration at'this point over the distance which the sleeve 6 projects from the terminal rather than concentrating thevibration exactly at the end of the sleeve3 thereby prolonging 1 materially the life of the cablesor cable 1 when used under severe vibration conditions, as in steam roadoperation.

It is foundwhere steel terminals are used with copper body membersl, that the applitendency is for an almost imperceptible r looseness'between the body 1 and the terminal 2 when the parts have cooled. This small degreeot looseness, however, tends to permit some of the vibration or relative movement'ot the cable with respect to the terminal to be transmitted up to the extreme end of the body members 1 where they unite to the welding metal, and the tendency is for the union between the cables. and the welding metal to break or give way in due course of time.

I have found, however, that by uniting the wires of the cable together for the distance that they are confined within the terminal 2, and also uniting the outer layer of the strand ed wires to the copper strip 6 that relative movement between the cable and the welding metal at the point of union is practically eliminated, and the relative movement takes place between the cable and the projecting end of the copper sleeve 6. 7

To bring about this improvement, I interpose between the coppersleeve 6 and the body member 1 a sleeve 7 ofbrazing material, which will be fused during the operation of applying a bond to a rail and will unite the strands or individual wires of the cable together and to the copper sleeve 6.-

I do not find that the sleeve 7 is requiredwhen the terminal 2 ismade of 'copper to nearly the extent as when it is made of steel v or iron, for the reason that when made of copper the co-eflicient .of expansion of the terminal is equal to that of the cable;

.In applying my improved bond, it is positioned on the rail 8 adjacent the end thereof and secured thereto by Welding metal, pref 7' erably of copper fiuxed with an alloy metal,

: of the shelfmember 4:. WVith the type of bond '7 such as silicon, manganese, phosphorus, etc., and this metal is melted and applied to the ends ofthe cable or cables 1 and the surface shown in the drawing, it is preferable to use the oXy-acetylene flame in applying the heat which produces a temperature around 6300 degreesF. This high temperature flame is quite concentrated and fuses the end of the cables land the upper surface of the terminal 2, and also fuses-the welding or attaching metal which is applied in the form of a rod, and the rod is melted and is caught and 1 retained upon the upper surface of the bond 9 unites each part to the other.

terminal and cable, forming the attaching head 9, which is also fusedtothe surfaceof the rail by means of the heating flame. This forms a mechanical and electrical union between the parts in which the welding metal The heat applied to the terminal and bond cable being ivery intense, is absorbed'by the parts-and conducted into the terminaland fuses the brazing sleeve 7, which then unites with'the' wires formingthe cable 1 and with the inner surface of the sleeve 6, thereby'unitingthese parts together. i V i 1 There are, ofcourse, modifications which will be apparent to those skilled in the art,

7 as for instance, there maybeco'nditions under which the use of the sleeve (lmay be avoided, therebyfuniting the-wires of the stranded cable 1' directly to the innersurfa'ce of the f terminal 2 by means of the interposed brazing sleeve '7. A V i Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A rail bond comprising a body member of a plurality of wires, a terminal member attached to each end of the body member and gripping the end of the body, a copper sleeve interposed between the terminal c and body member and a sleeve of brazing material interposed between the copper sleeve and the body and arranged to fuse and unite with the copper sleeve and wires of the body memand thebody andarranged to fuse and unite i with the'copper sleeve and wires of the body member when the bond is applied to the rail.

3. A railbond comprising a body member of a plurality of wires, a terminal member attached to each endof thebody membe'r and gripping the end of the body,-a coppersleeve interposed between the terminal and body member and-a sleeve of brazing material interposed between thecopper sleeveand the body and arranged to fuse and unite with the copper sleeve and wires forming the outer layer of the body member when the bondis applied tothe rail. 7 V

4:; A rail bond comprising a flexible bodyand a terminal formed up of a single sheet of ferrous metal and provided with a sleevev portionand a shelf portion projecting from the sleeve portion, a thin metal sleevebetween the terminal'and body and asleeve of brazing 7 metal between'the said thin sleeve and the:

bodvvmemberand adaptedto melt and unite the bodymember to the said thin sleeve when applying the bond;

In testimony whereof I aifix' sigiiam, V PLINY PIPES; 7 

